Falling in Love Felt More Like Crashing in Love
by Welcome to the TARDIS
Summary: Topher slowly starts to realize that he might like Chris as something more than an idol. And also, Jasmine and Samey ship it.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright! This is kind of a test chapter I guess because I have no clue where the plot is going I just wanted to write ChrisTopher. Sorry if it seems kind of all over the place and out of character, I haven't written any fanfiction in forever. Also potential future chapters should be funnier and less angsty.**

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Sometimes Topher stopped and looked back on his life, and questioned his decisions. Sometimes he laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling and wondered how different he would be if he had never discovered the man who was Chris Mclean. He wondered if maybe he'd have more friends at school, or if his classmates would've been able to find less reasons to pick on him.

Topher didn't think like that often, but when he did it wrecked him.

That all changed when he was accepted onto Total Drama. Suddenly he was happier than he had ever been before, and nothing could ruin his mood. Being on Total Drama meant he was going to meet his idol, after years of dreaming, it was inevitably going to happen.

The weeks leading up to the show went by faster than Topher had expected them to. He wasn't complaining at all. Suddenly there was a pack of girls that wanted to talk to him all the time, and a few guys that had never been nice to him before suddenly wanted to be his friends. Topher wasn't stupid, he knew these people just wanted to be on good terms with someone who could potentially become famous, but the attention still felt nice.

The day Topher stepped onto the zeppelin, he was so stoked he forgot how nervous he was. Sitting in the blimp with a crowd of unfamiliar faces didn't even faze him. All that was on his mind was Chris. He was going to meet Chris.

Their first encounter was a little bit odd, but Topher wouldn't have it any other way. Sure Chris was a hologram at the time, but that just made it more interesting! The first day went by quickly, and Topher did all he could to stay near Chris as much as possible, even if it required breaking a few challenge rules.

It wasn't until that night while he was lying on the top bunk inside his team's treehouse that he realized being eliminated wasn't going to be an option. Now that he had talked to Chris (multiple times), and touched Chris, and just well everything about being near Chris in real life, he wasn't going to be able to go back to his normal life. Chris had filled a hole inside of him, and Topher was sure that if he had to leave Chris he was going to be destroyed.

Topher knew he had to do something that would assure that Chris was going to be a part of his life forever. Or at least a longer time period than the show lasted. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but it was going to have to be something big.

"Topher! What are you doing?!" Chris was standing on a ledge at least twenty feet above Topher, but he could still tell that the kid was doing something unintelligent.

Topher stopped moving as soon as he heard the other man call his name. "I'm helping my team!" He called in response.

Chris hadn't known the boy for very long, but he doubted Topher was being completely honest. "Well get back to it then!" One of the other contestants, Sky, ran by, and Chris was forced to divert his attention. Part of being a TV host meant paying attention to everyone, not just the cute fans. Not that Topher was cute, he was just a fan.

The challenge was simple enough, It was an obstacle course, with lots of grease. Chris thought it was clever, Chef thought… Well Chef thought it was less clever than he did. Chef had no say in that department so it didn't really matter though.

It was entertaining to watch to say the least. Chris hadn't seen so many people fall in awhile. He was almost disappointed when it was over. _Almost. _Elimination made up for that, Chris couldn't explain how happy he was to get rid of that wizard kid.

After the cameras were turned off for the night was when stuff started to get weird. The campers were supposed to be going back to their shelters, but for some reason Topher wasn't going anywhere. Chris sighed, "what do you want Topher?"

"I just wanted to watch you work!" Topher chirped. "You're so good at your job and I want to learn from you!"

Chris couldn't help but grin at the compliment. "I'm glad you appreciate my work, not many people seem to notice how much time I put into it."

"I don't see how they don't," Topher was leaning up against a tree that Chris hadn't noticed before, the sky behind him was growing dark, the last glimpses of sunlight creating a pinkish-purple glow spreading up from the horizon. "I guess other people are just too concerned about the contestants to notice the amazing host behind it all."

Chris was full out beaming, "you know, you're a good kid Topher."

"I'm just speaking the truth," Topher rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Thanks though, it means a lot."

"Not that I don't enjoy the company," Chris said, "but you should probably head back to your team. It's getting dark, and I can't have you getting lost in the woods, it would look bad on my resume."

Topher laughed, "yeah Chris you're probably right," he pushed off the tree and began to head in the direction of the treehouse. "It was nice talking to you." Chris watched the brunette disappear into the forest with a feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on.

To be honest, Chris wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the boy. On one hand he was full of compliments for Chris, but on the other hand he was kind of needy. Chris tossed the thought aside, he had work to do.

Topher walked back to the treehouse feeling happy as could be. Chris complimented him! Topher was sure that being complemented by Chris meant he was special. Chris never complimented anyone!

Topher was in such a daze he was amazed he had been able to survive the whole conversation without stuttering. His stomach was still full of butterflies, it was ridiculous. He had never felt this way about anyone (or thing) before. He was flustered and didn't know what to do.

He was so flustered that he managed to trip over a tree root or something of the sort halfway to the treehouse. And man was it a bad fall.

He ended up sitting in the dirt for a good five minutes holding onto his ankle, trying not to cry. He finally worked up the courage to stand up, and found that he could barely put any pressure on his foot without his ankle hurting like hell. Topher knew one thing for sure. There was no way he was going to be able to climb the ladder up to the treehouse. Where else could he go though?

The idea struck him almost immediately. He had to get back to the elimination area and hope that Chris was still there. It was a long shot, but if he was there Chris would be able to help him with his ankle, which was hurting _really _bad.

Topher managed to stumble back to the elimination area by holding onto an assortment of trees, large rocks, and some other stuff that was hard to make out in the dark. He could only hope it wasn't poison ivy.

Chris had never looked so much like an angel before.

"Topher! I told you to- What's wrong?!" The older man was by Topher's side faster than Topher had thought possible

"I kind of fell," Topher winced. "And I kind of hurt myself."

Chris looked like he had never dealt with an injured contestant before, even though Topher knew that he had. "What's hurting? What can I do?"

"My ankle," Topher pointed at the leg he was quite obviously not leaning on. "I wouldn't have come back, but it's just the treehouse-"

"Come on, Chef will know what to do." Chris looked over Topher for a moment before deciding to act as a human crutch. It was kind of awkward because Chris was so much shorter than Topher, but they made it work. They ended up hobbling towards wherever Chef was with Chris's arm around Topher's waist and his shoulder pressed up under his arm.

Topher wasn't sure if it was the fact that his ankle was going numb, or the Chris was holding onto him, but _was _sure that this was how Heaven must feel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! Thanks for the favs/follows/reviews they mean a lot! Here's the second chapter, it's a lot lighter than the first. Also sorry the chapters are so short, it's easier to update faster when they are.**

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Topher woke up on a couch. His right leg was propped up on a pillow, and Chris Mclean's face was hovering above his. "Good you're awake!"

Topher blinked, was he dreaming? "Chris?"

"You gotta get up dude! I can't just have you missing in action! The lawyers will get after me again!" Topher sat up sleepily, apparently he wasn't dreaming.

"No time for breakfast! Chef let you sleep in too late! He said it would help your ankle or something. Whatever, I need you to come with me to the meeting spot so I can explain today's challenge."

Topher obeyed, he swung his legs around so that they were on the floor, and stood up. Only to immediately sit back down, grabbing at his ankle. "Oh that still hurts, huh?" Chris's face fell. "I'm technically not allowed to let you compete like this."

Topher cracked a pained grin, "I don't think I can compete like this even if I wanted to."

Chris ran his hand through his hair, "well then just stay here I guess. I'll just tell the viewers what happened, its no big deal."

Topher frowned, "but if I'm gone won't I be taken out of the competition?"

Chris shrugged, "If your team wins then there's no way you can get voted off. If they don't well…" He laughed.

Topher sighed, "you better get going. I'll stay here, I don't want to keep you from your work."

Chris nodded, "yeah okay. Chef will fix your ankle!" Topher watched as the other man disappeared from the room. He was glad that Chris was such a vain person, it meant that he was more focused on what he had to do than Topher. Topher didn't want to be a hinderance to his idol.

It was quite a while before anyone came back into the room. Topher had determined it was a lounge of some sort, there was another couch in the room, and a coffee table, and a TV hanging on the wall.

When someone did come in the room it wasn't to check on him. It was one of Chris's infamous interns. They looked lost, and then confused as to why Topher had made himself at home on the couch with the TV remote in his hand. "Aren't you supposed to be competing?"

"Nope, major injury, Chris won't let me out there."

The intern narrowed his eyes, "_Chris Mclean _cares that you're injured?"

"That surprises you?" Topher paused his channel surfing.

"Well it's just that Chris usually only cares about himself," the intern shrugged, "guess you're a special case."

Topher felt his face flush. "I'm sure he's just enthralled by my hair. Most people are."

The intern didn't reply, but his facial expression said that he didn't agree with Topher. Topher went back to channel surfing, there was nothing on at this time of the morning. Once the intern left though, Topher found himself overthinking his comments. Was he really anything special to Chris or was Chris just concerned about legal issues?

His next guest showed up about 15 minutes later. It was Chef. Big, scary, intimidating Chef, holding a first aid kit, and a glass of water. He shoved the water into Topher's hand, and then pulled a bottle of pills out of seemingly nowhere. Topher realized it was aspirin as soon as there were two pills in the hand that wasn't holding the water.

"Uh thanks," Topher smiled, pretending he wasn't afraid of the man.

Chef made an accepting sound in response as he pulled a roll of gauze out of his first aid kit. Topher obediently lifted his bare foot up to make it easier to wrap. "There's no one here to put a cast on it, so this will have to do." Topher was startled by Chef's comment, he hadn't said anything since he entered the room.

"For real though, thanks," Topher looked down on his swollen ankle. "No one else on this island has any common sense."

Chef nodded in agreement. "I'm going to get ice. Stay put."

"There's nowhere for me to go anyways," Topher pointed out as Chef left the room. He still felt dumb for tripping the night before, he wasn't sure how it had happened seeing as he was usually so graceful on his feet. Now he was stuck hoping that he wouldn't be eliminated, he had no way to secure his spot on the show while he was laid up inside.

Chef came back with ice, and Topher was ordered to keep it on his ankle for ten minutes. He didn't argue, one of his favorite movies had started playing on TV, and he gladly planned on watching it the whole way through.

It was getting late, and Topher was getting nervous. No one had come to see him since Chef, and he knew around this time was when the elimination ceremony would be going on. He wished he knew which team had one, then he wouldn't be feeling so anxious.

He heard a door open and then close down the hall, and he turned down the TV a few notches to hear better, expecting conversation. Instead he heard footsteps, that were getting louder every step. Topher craned his neck to see out of the open doorway .

Chris appeared waving a fast food bag in the air. "Looks like you're safe for today."

Topher almost jumped off the couch in excitement. "My team won!"

"Well yeah, that's what the fast food implies," Chris tossed the bag across the room, and Topher caught it in his lap. "The rest of your team were complaining that you were gone. They said it was no fair you got to sit out."

Topher shrugged, reaching into the fast food bag, he was starving. "I'll be back in the competition tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's a day off," Chris declared. "There's a few every season, it's an excuse for me to have a work day."

"Oh great! More time for me to heal!"

Chris nodded slowly, "not in here though. You're going back to the treehouse."

Topher frowned, "but it's so much work just to climb up there! I'll probably just hurt myself worse!"

"It's no fair to the rest of the contestants. If they think I'm favoring you I could get in trouble!"

"Yeah I guess you're right," Topher grumbled. "I'd better get going then." Chris watched as Topher pulled on his sneakers, and pushed himself up off the couch. Topher was glad that his ankle had stopped hurting as bad. Now it was just really swollen. "I have no clue how to get back to the treehouse from here though."

Chris rubbed at the back of his neck, "I guess I could walk you back. Just to make sure you don't do something dumb and fall again."

Even though he was still a little irritated about being kicked out, Topher found himself grinning like an idiot. "Thanks Chris, I don't know what I'd do without you!"

Chris muttered something under his breath in response, and began to lead Topher out of the room. Topher found himself limping a little, it was slowing him down and he kept having to jog to keep up with Chris.

They left the building, and Topher remembered following this path the night before. The sun was still in the sky today though, and Chris wasn't dragging him along, so he was able to get a better look at his surroundings.

The patch was covered in decorative stones, and there was a shortage of trees compared to the rest of the island. This small section was neatly landscaped and felt a lot more civilized.

They continued down the path until the stones began to stop, and the ground became dirt. They were heading towards the woods now. Topher had no clue how Chris kept track of where they were when all of the trees looked the same, especially when they entered the forest from different places.

After a few minutes they stood in front of the tree where Team Kinosewak resided. The treehouse looked even farther away than Topher remembered it being. Chris was looking up at it too, almost apologetically. "You're going to be able to get up there right?" He asked warily.

"Oh yeah, sure," Topher assured. "It's just going to take a little longer than usual." He proved his point by grabbing the string ladder, and stepping up onto the first rung.

"I'm just gonna wait here. Just to make sure you don't fall," Topher had never heard Chris use that tone of voice on TV before. He sounded _concerned_. Maybe Topher was just reading it wrong.

Topher continued to climb the ladder, and managed to make it to the top with less of a struggle than he had expected. He stood up at the top and gave Chris a double thumbs up and a smile. Chris smiled back.

"I'm gonna go now, okay?"

"Okay! Thanks for walking me back Chris!" Topher called back. He heard noises from inside the treehouse, and suddenly Jasmine was standing behind him. He spun around to face her reluctantly, not wanting to stop looking at Chris.

"There you are!" She exclaimed in her thick accent.

"Yeah I'm back," Topher replied.

"The team was worried!" Topher knew that was a lie. "Come on inside!" Jasmine motioned with her hand and headed back in.

Topher looked back before following Jasmine. Chris was already gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter was basically just an excuse for me to write embarrased!Topher, and team Kinosewak bonding. Thanks so much to all the awesome support, it's inspiring to post new chapters as fast as I can!**

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"_No _Max!" Scarlett screeched.

Topher sighed, he had been sitting on his bed in the treehouse all day listening to his teammates complain, and fight, and gossip. He hadn't bothered to join in to any of their conversations since he didn't care much about what they were talking about. Even the gossip was boring, it was just all _Sky this _and _Dave that_.

"So Topher," Jasmine was talking to him _again_. "Did you really get to see Chris's place?"

Topher hadn't thought of it that way before, he supposed it only made sense that Chris lived in that building too. "Yeah I did."

Jasmine seemed to be expecting more. "What was it like?" Samey asked, she was sitting next to Jasmine on the bottom bunk of the set of beds across from Topher.

"Um, it was pretty nice. A little dated though, with tile floors and all." Jasmine started giggling, and Topher furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What's so funny?"

Samey started laughing too.

"You should have heard them yesterday," Max's voice came out of nowhere, Topher looked around, startled.

Jasmine jumped up from the bed and slapped her hand over Max's mouth. "Don't listen to him."

Max was smacking at Jasmine's arm and yelling against her hand.

"Somebody better tell me what's going on here," Topher demanded.

Scarlett entered the room from outside. "Samey and Jasmine are convinced that you and Chris have started dating," she stated matter-of-factly.

Topher's eyes widened considerably. "_What_?"

Samey hid her face in her hands. Jasmine let her hand fall away from Max's mouth. "Thank you for helping me out there sidekick," he said, nodding towards Scarlett.

"Why would you think that?" Topher asked, astonished. He looked to Scarlett when neither Jasmine or Samey would answer him.

"Do I really have to go over the list?" Scarlett looked like she'd rather be doing anything else. Topher didn't care, this was important. He nodded vigorously.

"At least let me explain," Jasmine fumed.

"Glady," Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Well…" Jasmine looked up at an expecting Topher, "it's just that you two are _always _together, and you're always complimenting him, and yesterday Chris wouldn't stop talking about you, so-"

"Chris was talking about me yesterday?"

"He pulled our team over after explaining the challenge and pretty much told us if we didn't win there were going to be consequences." Topher bit his bottom lip. Did Chris actually care if he went home or not? "He wouldn't do that for any of us, so we just kind of assumed…"

"There's nothing going on between me and Chris," Topher assured.

"Just for the record," Samey's voice was strained, "you two would be a really cute couple."

Topher's face turned bright red. "I am _way _too handsome for Chris!"

Jasmine laughed.

A high pitched buzzing caused the team to fall silent. Topher was about to cover his ears with his hands when the buzzing turned into talking. "Sorry about that! Well actually not really," Chris cackled. "Anyways, I'm too lazy to walk out to team Kinosewak's shelter, so I'm sending an intern out to get Topher. Basically I'm just making an announcement to tell Topher to get his butt outside. So yeah, bye." The speakers clicked off.

All eyes were on Topher. He groaned. "I'm sure Chef just wants to check on my ankle," he muttered as he climbed down from his bed.

He ignored Jasmine and Samey's laughter as he made his way outside.

It was the mildest day the island had had since Topher had stepped foot there. It was windy, and the sky was covered in dark grey clouds, threatening to start raining at any time. Topher stood outside on the small ledge outside of the treehouse for a moment before beginning to climb down. It was nice being alone after that humiliating experience inside. He couldn't believe that the girls had legitimately thought he was going out with Chris Mclean.

Not that he would mind going out with Chris.

Wait… What?

Topher didn't have time to think about it, the same intern he had spoken to the day before had appeared below him, looking impatient. Topher quickly climbed down the ladder, his ankle was still swollen, and hard to move, but that wasn't going to stop him.

"So what's Chris want from me?" Topher asked as he began to follow the intern.

"As if he'd tell me," the intern huffed. Topher had a feeling this guy didn't like him very much.

The rest of their walk was silent, even Topher had enough common sense not to accidently pick a fight with the intern, that would only end badly for him. They ended up back at what Topher had started to think of as Total Drama Headquarters. Topher's ankle was feeling a little bit number from walking on it, and he didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

The intern pushed open the door, and didn't bother to hold it for Topher. The first thing Topher saw when he entered the lobby was Chef. A very determined looking Chef.

Next thing he knew, he was being hoisted over Chef's shoulder. "Hey! I can walk! Let me down!"

Chef didn't even acknowledge Topher's protests, he instead continued to carry him down the hall. They eventually turned into an empty room, and Chef tossed him onto what looked a lot like a hospital bed. "What's going on?" Topher asked, not really expecting a response at this point.

"Your ankle isn't going to heal right if you keep walking on it like this." Chef was sorting through a cabinet on the far side of the room.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Chef turned around, holding an ankle brace. "First you're going to put this on."

Topher took the ankle brace from Chef, and slipped off his shoe. The gauze from yesterday was still on, falling off in some places, but on. He unwrapped it and grimaced when he got a good look at how giant his ankle actually was at the moment.

As soon as he'd managed to put on the ankle brace correctly, Chef came back with a pair of crutches. "What! No way! I can't have crutches!"

Chef raised a brow, "you have to use them when you're not competing."

Topher groaned loudly. "_Fine_."

And then Chef basically silently implied that Topher could leave, so Topher stood up, picked up the crutches, and awkwardly crutched out of the room. It was mostly awkward because Topher had never used crutches before and he had no idea what he was doing.

He managed to begin to get the hang of it as he headed down the hall loudly. He was sure everyone in the building could hear the crutches hitting the tile floor.

Topher almost fell over when he saw Chris in the lobby on his way out. He was suddenly flooded with memories of Jasmine and Samey, and his stomach filled with butterflies as if he was worried that Chris could read his mind. Which he totally wasn't.

"Oh man," Chris smirked, "Chef's making you use the crutches."

"Yeah, unfortunately," Topher sighed. "Your hair looks nice today," he complimented half-heartedly.

"Thanks Topher," Chris ran his hand through his hair happily.

"No problem," Topher was impressed by how well he was keeping his voice steady. "I'm gonna head back to my team now, nice seeing you." Topher was ready to start crutching away, but apparently Chris wasn't having that.

"I've been working on new challenge ideas all day," Chris seemed lost in his own world. "I came up some really good _dangerous _ones that will be awesome!"

"That's great!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself," Chris really did look proud. Topher thought it was a good look for him.

"I can't wait to find out what they are!" Topher smiled, "hopefully I'll still be around to compete in them!"

"Yeah…" Chris snapped out of his daze. "Anything interesting going on back at team HQ?" Topher doubted that Chris actually cared, but the question provoked Topher's face to turn bright red. That seemed to be happening way too frequently lately.

"Oh um nothing interesting! Just gossiping and stuff!"

"Hmm," Chris nodded absently. "Okay Topher I have work to do! You'll have to come talk to me some other time," he clapped his hand on Topher's shoulder as he walked by.

Topher had watched enough Chris Mclean interviews to know that there was definitely something off about the man lately, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Don't ask where this fic is going because I have no clue. Oh and also this chapter is from Chris's point of view.**

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Chris sat down in his office behind a wooden desk covered in paper and file folders. This was getting ridiculous. Not the organized chaos of his office, no that was fine, that was normal.

What wasn't normal was that his thoughts kept turning back to Topher. They weren't thoughts about wanting to get rid of the kid either, which was the scariest part. He was Chris Mclean, he was supposed to hate _all _of the contestants, and Topher was included in that category.

Instead Chris found himself actually _liking _Topher! That wasn't supposed to happen! It felt wrong on every level of the word.

He just couldn't find anything he didn't like about Topher. On top of the fact that he idolized Chris, he was intuitive, and obviously had goals that he was planning on accomplishing in his life. Not to mention that the kid wasn't bad looking… Nope he was not going there again.

Chris turned back to the papers on his desk, some of them were legal documents, some of them were new challenge concepts. He was supposed to be getting the rest of the week's challenges approved by the network, but they were taking way too long to call back. That's why his mind had started wandering in the first place.

It was just his luck when he had gone out to take a break from his work that he ran into Topher. I mean sure he had known the kid was going to be in the building, Chef had forced him to call Topher down for medical reasons not an hour ago, but still!

Their conversation had been short and incredibly awkward, and Chris had been majorly relieved when he managed to escape without anything embarrassing happening. He couldn't believe this was happening to him, he felt like a teenager with a dumb hopeless crush. That wasn't how TV hosts were supposed to feel, especially about their contestants.

The next morning Chris woke the contestants at the crack of dawn. The challenge he had planned for the day was a work of genius on his part, and it would take the campers almost all day to complete, which meant more time for him to relax.

The meeting spot quickly began to fill up with contestants from either team. Their faces were a perfect collection of annoyance and anxiousness for what was ahead.

After a few minutes, Chris did a quick head count, and found that there were three missing. Moments later he was surprised to find Jasmine and Samey happily conversing beside a very unhappylooking Topher, who was still using his crutches. As soon as they sat down, Chris cleared his throat, and began his monologue of the day. "Good morning contestants! Today's challenge is going to be a doozy!"

There was an assortment of groans, and Chris smiled even wider. "That's the spirit! Today's challenge involves a scavenger hunt! But not your everyday scavenger hunt! Today instead of finding different objects, you'll be completing different physical tasks!" Chris produced two pieces of paper out of his pocket. "Both teams will be completing the same tasks but in a different order." Chris handed one list to Jasmine, and the other to Sky. "First team to finish the list wins! And remember, there are cameras _everywhere _so there's no way you're going to get away with cheating!"

"Um, Chris?" Sky was looking down on her team's list, "these are all water related."

"Oh I forgot to mention, today's this season's beach challenge!" Chris snorted, "and don't even mention your lack of swimsuits because I went out of my way to buy a whole box full!" Chef appeared holding a large cardboard box at exactly the right timing. "Now go get changed and come back here!"

It was like he triggered an all out brawl. Both teams were jumping at the box of bathing suits as if their lives depended on it. Sugar jumped up first, looking victorious. "I got the best one!"

Topher was hanging back, looking even grumpier than he did before Chris announced the challenge. "As much as I appreciate your creativity," Topher was watching the other contestants fight for swimsuits, "do we _have _to wear swimsuits?"

Chris crossed his arms over his chest, "Topher, I'm not letting you skip another challenge. Chef said it would be perfectly fine for you to swim."

Topher diverted his eyes away from Chris, "It's not the swimming part that I don't want to do…"

Chris was confused, "whatever it is, you're still competing!

Topher continued to pout until Samey paraded back holding two swimsuits, one for herself and, "I got one for you Topher!"

"Oh my god," Topher's eyes widened.

"It'll look great on you!" Samey grinned.

"I am _not wearing _that! Ever!"

Chris looked over the crowd of bikinis and swim trunks in satisfaction. "Looks like you're all ready for the fun to begin!" He really had outdone himself this time, the swimsuits were all equally hideous, from cheetah print to hideous hawaiian flowers, most of them looked like they belonged in the children's department. Chris lifted his blow horn, his finger hovering over the trigger. "Okay… Go!" The blow horn sounded loudly, and both teams started running in the direction of the lake.

Chris stood next to Chef and watched for a few moments before deciding it was time to go sit by the monitor. He was adorned in swim trunks as well, and a pitcher of lemonade was waiting for him under the umbrella he had set up.

It didn't take long to make himself comfortable, and at that point he began to watch the chaos that was unfolding by the lake, which was scattered with inflatable platforms. Team Maskwak seemed to have no leadership whatsoever, and Shawn was nowhere to be seen. Jasmine had taken over Team Kinosewak as usual, her hair was hanging around her shoulders, free of her usual ponytail.

Chris scanned the scene, looking around for one particular individual. It didn't take long to spot Topher, he was standing with his team, and appeared to be listening to Jasmine. Chris squinted trying to see him better. Topher's arms were crossed over his bare chest and he looked to be slouching, that was odd, he almost looked self-conscious. The swimsuit Samey had picked out for him could definitely be the cause, it was skintight and stopped above his knees, orange and yellow flames were printed over a black background.

The teams started to work on their lists, and Chris occasionally narrated it out. It wasn't nearly as exciting to watch as he had hoped. Besides a couple falls, both teams seemed to be working together fairly well. Team Maskwak took the lead about halfway through, mostly due to Sky's gymnast background, and they managed to hold it to the end.

Chris called Team Kinosewak back to break the news that they had lost. The group of teens were still sopping wet, and were all wearing equal expressions of disappointment. "I hope one of you is prepared to be shot out of a cannon tonight," Chris grinned as he waved them off to go put on normal clothes, "because one of you is going to be eliminated!"

There were about two hours in between the end of the challenge and the elimination ceremony, and during that time Chris came to the revelation that the only way he was going to be able to stop being hung up on Topher was if Topher stopped being so nice to him. The problem was figuring out how to get Topher to stop.

Well if there was one thing Chris was good at, it was being mean. That would definitely keep the kid away from him.

Chris stood in front of Team Kinosewak with one hand on his hip and the other full of marshmallows. "Okay you know the drill, if you get a marshmallow you're safe, if you don't… Well you're not."

"Scarlett, Max, Jasmine, Samey, you're safe," Chris tossed marshmallows to the contestants accordingly. "That leaves Topher and Amy."

Topher looked absolutely terrified. Amy on the other hand just looked angry.

"And the last marshmallow goes to…" Chris paused for effect. "Topher," he gritted the name out trying to sound as disappointed as possible. Topher didn't seem to notice, he caught the marshmallow with a look of total relief.

"What! I can't be going home! This is no fair! Samey should be going home!"

Chris laughed, eliminations were the best.

* * *

**I have no clue what time period this fic takes place so just deal with me please. Oh and don't worry, the little Topher swimsuit thing will be explained. **


	5. Chapter 5

**I just really like the idea of Topher/Samey/Jasmine friendship. Once again thanks for the positive feedback I really appreciate it :)**

* * *

"Topher!" An assortment of balls were flying through the air coming from all directions, and Jasmine was calling for his attention. Topher looked up just in time to catch the football that was being flung in his direction.

The challenge Chris had given them today was basically soccer, but with a lot less rules, and a lot more balls. First team to 10 goals were the winners. The concept sounded a lot simpler before the game started.

Topher scanned the field quickly, looking for any open teammates, he was glad everyone else was preoccupied at the moment or else he would've been tackled the moment he caught the ball. Topher caught sight of Samey, who was looking around frantically. He knew that she hadn't been a fan of the challenge from the start, but she was the only player open unless he wanted to try for a goal, which was being guarded by Shawn.

"Samey!" The blonde's eyes widened as she realized that Topher was planning on passing the ball to her. A soccer ball flew in between Topher and Samey that was quickly followed by an exhausted Max. As soon as the scene was clear, Topher threw the ball as well as he could towards Samey. She caught it like a pro. Topher felt unusually proud of Samey for a moment. It didn't last long though, because suddenly Scarlett was calling out to him, it was too bad that he couldn't understand what she was saying.

It was pure luck when he managed to kick the soccer ball with his good foot. It was even more luck when it flew past Shawn and hit the back of lacrosse net that was Team Maskwak's goal. Team Kinosewak cheered. "The score is now 9-7 Team Kinosewak!" Chris announced over the loudspeakers.

"Great job Topher!" Jasmine gave him a high five. Topher felt more accomplished than he had in a long time.

The rest of the game passed by in a blur. Team Kinosewak struggled to make their final goal, but when they finally did it could only be described as epic. It was definitely a team effort, and that was kind of hard to manage seeing as they were using a tennis ball.

The game ended early, and since his team was safe from elimination, Topher had some time to blow. What was a better way to blow time than to go find Chris?

Chris wasn't hard to find, he was watching a handful of interns collect all the sports equipment from earlier. It was a bigger job than you might think, more than one frisbee had been tossed out of the field towards the woods.

"What do you want Topher?" Chris asked as he noticed him crutching over.

"I just wanted to talk to you," Topher said, making his way closer

"Well I don't want to talk to you so you should go away."

"Aw Chris! Come on don't be like that!"

"Seriously Topher, go away." Chris's voice was stern. Topher frowned.

"Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to bother you. I'm sure you're super busy with uh your work," Topher swallowed thickly, "I'll just um go now." He spun around on his crutches, and hurried back towards the treehouse. Was he being too needy? He was probably just being oversensitive, but Chris had seemed even more annoyed than usual. Maybe he was just having a bad day.

Topher propped his crutches against the tree that held his team's shelter, and climbed up the ladder. He was trying not to overthink, but he didn't want Chris to be mad at him. Samey interrupted his train of thought as soon as he entered the treehouse. "Hey Topher, where have you been?"

"Oh, I just went to talk to Chris." Topher sat down next to Samey on her bed. The two had somehow managed to become closer over the past few days, even friend status.

"Ooo, what'd you talk about?"

Topher glared at her jokingly, "don't you 'ooo' me. Plus, he didn't want to talk to me anyways."

"What do you mean he didn't want to talk to you?"

"He just didn't! He told me to leave, so I left."

Samey scrunched up her nose, "that's rude."

Topher shrugged, "I was probably just being annoying." Samey still looked disturbed. "It's no big deal."

"What's no big deal?" Jasmine asked, entering the room with a hoard of berries.

"Chris was being mean to Topher," Samey explained.

"I wouldn't say _mean_."

"He told you to go away when you wanted to talk to him!"

"Well he doesn't have to talk to me _all _the time..."

Jasmine pursed her lips, "Chris is just a rude guy, sorry Topher but there's no way you're going to be able to change that."

"Yeah you're probably right," Topher nodded. "Samey's the one making a big deal out of it anyways."

"No I'm not!"

"Anyways," Topher was trying his best to change the topic, "speaking of boys, _Jasmine_."

"Do _not _bring Shawn into this!"

Topher laughed, he'd never expected to make any sort of friends on the island, but Jasmine and Samey were pretty fun to mess around with, and it gave him something to do other than think about Chris. "Really though, are you two going to get together?"

Jasmine broke her eye contact with Topher, "I don't know… Maybe."

"I hope you do," Samey smiled.

Jasmine was embarrassed. "Why are we allowed to talk about my crushes but not Topher's?"

"Who do I have a crush on?" Topher asked, he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Chris," Jasmine and Samey said at the same time.

"I am out of here," Topher said, then proceeded to make a show of walking out of the treehouse entirely.

* * *

"This food is positively _evil_," Max commented. Topher had to agree with the boy for once, he wasn't sure where Chris had found this particular fast food joint, but the food was about as appetizing as manure.

"The other team doesn't get any so be happy!" Chris snapped.

"I think it looks great Chris!" Topher exclaimed, no point in missing an opportunity to talk to the man.

"I think it would be great if you stopped being such a kiss up Topher!" Team Kinosewak fell completely silent. Topher opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly there was a lump in his throat that was blocking any noise from coming out.

Chris didn't even seem fazed. "Stop staring and eat up, this stuff is delicious!" He proved his point by grabbing a handful of burnt fries and shoving them in his mouth.

Topher turned around, he was absolutely _not _going to cry.

Jasmine broke the silence, "Hey Toph," she paused, "want to eat up in the treehouse?"

Topher nodded solemnly, he was holding both of his crutches horizontally in one hand, and his fast food bag in the other. He began to trudge back towards the forest, with Jasmine and Samey right beside him. He faintly heard Max and Scarlett begin to follow them as well.

The first thing that happened when they made it back into the treehouse startled Topher. "You need to stop being so nice to that man!" Jasmine stomped her foot down on the wooden floorboards. "He's treating you like crap!"

Topher curled up on his top bunk. "I don't know what I did wrong… Why does he hate me?"

"He's just a mean person!" Samey answered. "And trust me, I know about mean people!"

Topher knew they were trying to make him feel better, but it wasn't really working. He didn't want to stop complimenting Chris, he didn't want to stop idolizing him, Chris was his everything and he didn't want to give that up.

The only question was how he was going to be able to win him back.

* * *

**Aw sad Topher is sad :(**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this chapter is so short, it was kind of a pain to write...**

* * *

Operation Get Chris to Stop Hating Topher started the next day. It involved not talking to Chris unless absolutely necessary.

Okay so the plan was a little simplistic, but Topher wasn't really sure what else he could do. Chris wasn't the type of person who would accept flowers or an apology speech. He was just going to have to give the silent treatment until he thought of something better (or it worked).

Staying quiet was hard when you a born TV personality. The urge to throw to commercials was almost overwhelming. It was a sacrifice he was going to have to make if he wanted to get back on Chris's good side though.

For some reason the challenge of the day wasn't until that night, so it was easy to avoid Chris for the first half of the day. When challenge time came around, Topher listened to Chris explain quietly, and he didn't narrate the challenge at all.

Team Maskwak was down Sugar, leaving Sky, Dave, Shawn, and Ella. Team Kinosewak had an advantage in terms of number of contestants with Topher, Samey, Jasmine, Max, and Scarlett.

Even so, they still managed to lose. Max was shot out of the cannon not long after, Scarlett was the happiest Topher had ever seen her.

The swelling on his ankle had almost completely disappeared which was one plus in what seemed like a sea of negatives, he was still using the crutches because Chef hadn't told him to stop.

After elimination was over, Chris called everyone down to the meeting area. It was probably midnight by then, and everyone just wanted to sleep. Chris on the other hand was still wide awake, and as enthusiastic as usual. "I have big news!" He exclaimed as soon as everyone was huddled around him. "it's time to merge!"

"Already?" Sky gasped.

"Yes already! No more teams, you're all on your own!" The group of teens didn't seem to know what to do. "Okay, you can go sleep now or whatever," Chris flicked his wrist in a 'shoo' motion.

"This feels weird," Samey mused. "Now we're all against each other."

"That's the point Samey," Chris pointed out. Topher wasn't sure that was considered eavesdropping or not seeing as Samey was clearly not talking to him.

The now-merged teams headed off back to their usual sleeping arrangements, there was no point in changing them even if they weren't teammates anymore. Topher had a hard time falling asleep, he couldn't help but wonder if Chris had noticed his attempts to please him. All he could do was keep the act up until he got some results.

* * *

Chris's plan was working. Topher hadn't bothered him all day after he had finally gotten after him the night before. It was exactly what he wanted. But for some reason it didn't feel as good as he had expected it to. H tried to shrug it off, no point in worrying over it when Topher was bound to be eliminated within the next few days anyways, then he could stop worrying about it entirely.

He was sitting in his office, looking over some documents when there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he called, hopefully it was Chef.

A short, stocky intern entered the room, his face was pink and he was fidgeting nervously. "Oh hey, what's up kid?" Chris asked.

"Um I know I have no right to say anything about this to you sir, but," he paused, "you really upset that one contestant."

"Yeah, so what?" Chris crossed his arms over his chest, "I make all of my contestants upset, that's my job."

The intern took in a deep breath, "I just think that you should consider that you're really important to him, and it's probably really bothering him."

"What do you expect me to do? Go find him and apologize? I'm not sure you realize who you're talking to." Chris was more than agitated at this point. This guy thought he could come into his office and talk to him about something he had _nothing _to do with… It was frustrating beyond belief. "Why do you know so much about Topher anyways?"

The intern paled, "I-I don't, I've only talked to him a few times-"

"Then stop talking to me about him!" Chris slammed his fist down on his desk. If the intern was scared before, now he was terrified. He scurried out of the room without saying another word.

Chris exhaled loudly, he rarely felt bad about anything, but even he knew that was harsh, he wouldn't be surprised if he never saw that intern again. Even worse, the intern probably had a point.

Could hr really apologize though?

Chris couldn't remember the last time he had ever sincerely apologized for something, how was he even supposed to start?

He decided to sleep on it. He'd apologize the next morning, or die trying.

* * *

"Topher!"

Topher spun around as fast as possible. He was holding a basket half full of berries. His eyes widened when he caught sight of Chris.

"I wanted to talk to you," Chris was 90% sure the smile he was putting on was more frightening than friendly.

"Oh, yeah, sure, of course Chris," Topher nodded eagerly. Chris bit his lip, he should've thought this through better.

"I um, I wanted to uh," Topher was listening intently, and was maintaining the most extreme eye contact Chris had ever experienced. "I just wanted to say sorry," he finished lamely.

Topher blinked, "for what?"

Oh so that's how he was going to be. "For being a jerk the other night."

"Oh yeah that. It's no big deal," Topher smiled crookedly. Chris wasn't buying it.

"Really though, I had no right to go off on you like that," Chris sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I forgive you," Topher's smile seemed to grow more realistic.

Chris found himself smiling as well. "I'm glad you understand." He felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, "good luck with the challenge today," he told Topher, and he meant it. For some strange reason if there was one person he didn't want eliminated, it was Topher.

* * *

**But look these dorks are finally making some progress (kind of?)**


	7. Chapter 7

******The moment we've all been waiting for.**

* * *

Talking to Chris became easier again after that,, and Topher even allowed himself to start working on his hosting skills again. Chris didn't stop him.

Days went by, and so did challenges. Contestants were leaving rapidly, and suddenly Samey was the one climbing into the cannon. Topher had to admit that he was saddened by the fact, he'd grown to be close friends with the girl. They'd exchanged phone numbers and promised to talk after the show though, so he supposed it was okay.

His competition was getting tougher, and Topher would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried that he was going to be eliminated next. All he could do was try his best, and make a good impression of himself for the network, hopefully they'd notice how much potential he had as a host.

"You sure did a good job picking this season's location," Topher was thinking back on all of the different scenery the island had offered so far.

"It is a pretty great place," Chris agreed. "especially for torturing my contestants."

Topher tried not to be disturbed by how eagerly that statement had come out of Chris's mouth. "I hope some day I can be as creative as you. I have no clue how you've managed to come up with so many challenges over the years."

The corners of Chris's mouth lifted slightly, "it's hard work, but I'm naturally talented so it makes up for it. You could probably handle it. Obviously not as well as I do, but well enough."

Topher beamed at the compliment. "Thanks Chris!" Chris hummed in response. "So I've been thinking," Topher didn't want their conversation to end so quickly. "I'm probably going to be the next person to go home."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well everyone who's still here is really tough, and they all have a lot more skills than I do. I doubt I'll be able to host my way to the top. If any of the challenges are based on physical strength then I'm done for."

"Oh come on, don't be such a downer," Chris laughed. "I'm not supposed to pick favorites, but I'm almost sixty percent sure that you could outrun Dave."

"Only sixty percent?" Topher mocked offense.

"Anything higher would be unreasonable;."

Topher laughed, "whatever you say old man."

Chris narrowed his eyes, "I'll make sure you're the one going home if you keep calling me that."

"Okay, okay! I won't call you that anymore!"

Chris was pleased with Topher's frantic reply. "Good." It was late at night, and they were sitting across from each other, a small fire was filling the space in between. "I should probably be telling you to go to sleep."

"Are you going to?"

"I've never been very good at following the rules," Chris admitted. "And I don't have anywhere else to be right now."

"I feel privileged to be worthy of your free time," Topher bit his lip.

"Oh stop trying to flatter me," Chris's tone of voice was full of humor.

"I'll stop when you stop being so flatter worthy." Oh god that came out _way more _flirtythan he intended. Topher wasn't sure if it would be better to hide his face in his hands or pretend that hadn't happened.

Chris laughed it off, "d'you use that one on your girlfriend back home?"

"Me, with a girlfriend?" It was Topher's turn to laugh. "I doubt anyone would even _consider_ going out with me back home."

"Why would you think that?" Chris leaned forward, his elbows were pressing into his legs, and his head was in his hands.

"Oh, uh," Topher knew that the conversation was going in a direction he didn't like. He wasn't going to lie though. "I'm not exactly popular back home. Actually it's kind of the opposite," Chris silently encouraged him to go on, Topher was surprised he cared enough to listen to something that wasn't about him. "I kind of get picked on a lot. It was worse when I was younger, but it still happens, and it pretty much repels people from me."

Chris's face fell. "Why?"

It took Topher a moment to understand what Chris was asking. "Well it used to mostly be my appearance," he said, "I wasn't a great looking kid. Luckily I look amazing now," he grinned, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Lately it's just kind of been me in general. You know, the usual insults you hear."

Topher couldn't read Chris's facial expression. "You're a good person Topher."

"Um, thanks Chris."

They fell into a silence that wasn't really awkward, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. "I think I'm going to go try to sleep now," Topher stood up, his back was stiff from the way he had been sitting on the log that was used as a makeshift chair. Chris stood up as well. The lighting in the area wasn't very good seeing as it was coming solely from a fire, but Topher was sure that Chris was wearing a look of determination.

Chris walked around the fire to where Topher was standing. Ignoring their height difference, he reached up and wrapped his arms around Topher's neck. "I'm about to do something that I'm most likely going to regret a few seconds afterwards," he declared.

Topher's stomach was suddenly full of his butterflies, and his face was on fire. He surely couldn't be about to do what he thought he was about to do-

He did it.

Chris used his hands on the back of Topher's head to pull him down to his level and kissed him like a pro. Topher was frozen in shock, his eyes were wide open, and his arms were hanging limp by his sides.

Chris pulled away after a few seconds and looked over Topher for any sign of a reaction. "You just," Topher stammered, "I-"

Chris smirked, "go to bed Topher."

Topher's mouth was hanging open. "b-but-"

"See you in the morning," Chris poked Topher in the center of his chest before spinning around and presumably heading off towards his office building.

Topher wasn't sure if that had been a dream or real life, and he had no one to ask to pinch him.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm ****_finally _****done with this chapter, sorry for the wait!**

* * *

The next morning Topher woke up feeling anxious. Surprisingly most of it seemed to be coming from the thought of the upcoming challenge rather than the thought of what happened with Chris the night before. Topher knew if he screwed up today there was no chance he would be able to figure on what was going on with his relationship with Chris, because he honestly had no clue what it was anymore.

He felt awkward standing next to the other contestants while Chris was explaining the challenge, Chris didn't look in Topher's direction any more often than usual but for some reason they kept making eye contact.

The challenge was unlike anything Topher had expected. It was a race. A mostly normal race. Of course Chris couldn't let it be that easy though, there were booby traps all over the island, and there was a section that you had to pogostick through, besides that though, it was pretty, dare he think, normal.

The worst part was the realization that this challenge required a lot of running, and Topher wasn't very skilled in that department. Sky was in perfect condition for running due to Olympic training, Shawn's life revolved around running from zombies, and Jasmine's legs were so long she could probably cross the island in ten strides!

Topher's only option was to beat Dave, hopefully his sixty percent chance worked out.

The race started off slowly, literally. All of the competitors were jogging in an attempt to save their energy for the end so they stayed relatively close to each other. Once the booby traps started appearing was when things got interesting. Topher found himself narrating the trouble the other competitors were getting into out loud as he passed them by.

It was a great feeling to be in the lead until he found himself caught in a net hanging from a tree, not for the first time that season. It was incredibly frustrating trying to get down, and once he finally did he was way behind.

He caught up at the pogo stick section, Jasmine was having a hard time keeping her balance. Shawn was no where to be seen, Topher didn't know if he should assume he was ahead or behind. Pogo sticking proved to be a challenge, but after falling over multiple times Topher managed to make it back to the running section.

The race was almost over, and Topher had no clue what place he was in, everyone was so spread out he couldn't see them.

Chris was waiting at the finish line, along with Chef, and a few other contestants. The first thing Topher did when he finished was count up the contestants that had placed ahead of him. One two three… He wasn't in last!

He beat Dave!

Relief flooded over him, and shortly after, the realization that he was exhausted from the race. The other contestants looked just as wary as he felt, at least he wasn't alone.

Dave crossed the finish line about ten minutes later looking as if he'd walked through a hurricane. "Guess the wind tunnel didn't do you any good," Chris snorted.

Dave was sent flying about an hour later, Topher knew he had to go talk to Chris before he went back to his office for the night. He worked up the courage rather easily, and headed off to find the man.

Chris was leaning back against a tree, watching a fire that he or Chef had started at some point. It seemed to be part of his daily routine. "Hey," Topher greeted.

Chris turned his head so that they were facing each other. "What's up?"

Topher shrugged, "not much, just wanted to talk to you."

Chris nodded, "about what?"

"Oh come on don't play dumb," Topher tried not to sound rude. "You know what I want to talk about."

"Oh that."

"Yeah, that."

Chris either wasn't fazed, or he was doing a good job hiding it. "What can I say? It was an impulse."

Topher shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "so, like a one time thing?"

"Well I mean," Chris rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "That depends I guess."

"Depends on what?"

"Well it depends on whether or not you want it to be a one time thing I guess," Chris crossed his arms over his chest nonchalantly, "_I _could care less."

"Wow Chris it's great to know how you really feel," Topher's tone of voice was laced with sarcasm. "But um really," he said awkwardly, "I want to know what's going on between us before I get sent home. I'd hate to leave with regrets."

Chris raised a brow, "Regrets, huh?"

Topher directed his gaze downwards, "well I just mean I'd rather know for sure how you felt about me before I left."

Chris smirked. "You're an interesting person Topher. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about you."

"Well I'm just going to throw out there that I would be a _great _boyfriend," Topher smiled.

Chris gave him a doubtful expression, "_you_?"

"Hey!"

"No, but that's really not the problem," Chris admitted. "When you're as big of a celebrity as me, you can't just get in a relationship. No matter how well you try to hide it the press finds out, and when they do they just won't leave you alone. I won't be the only one they'll be questioning, you'd be put in the same position."

"I wouldn't mind it," Topher said, "I'm meant to be famous anyways."

"It probably wouldn't be the kind of publicity you want though. As far as the world's come, do you think they'd be happy to find out that their beloved TV host was in a relationship with his former contestant? His _male _contestant nonetheless," Chris shook his head. "Even I wouldn't do that to you."

"Chris…" Topher sighed, "I want to be in a relationship with you. I don't care what the press thinks."

Topher knew Chris was conflicted. "Just… Let me think about it then."

Topher smiled. He wandered over to Chris confidently. "Since last night I kind of froze," he explained, draping his arms around Chris's waist loosely, "I figured I owed you a do-over." Chris was watching him curiously. Topher leaned down and pressed his lips to Chris's, he hadn't kissed many people before, but he tried his best to replicate how Chris had done it the night before.

"_Wow,_" Chris said after Topher pulled away.

Topher blushed, "was that a good wow?"

"Yes, definitely a good wow," Chris nodded, Topher's arms were still on his waist, and Chris's arms had snaked around Topher's neck while they were kissing.

"I should probably be heading off to bed," Topher realized.

Chris looked disappointed, "Already?"

Topher grinned, "does that mean I can kiss you again tomorrow?"

"Maybe if you're lucky," Chris grumbled.

* * *

"Oh there you are," Topher almost screamed, he hadn't noticed Jasmine watching him when he first entered the treehouse.

"Oh yeah, hi Jasmine."

"Where were you?" She sounded suspicious.

"Talking to Chris," Topher said sitting down on his bed.

"Why do you keep talking to him after hours?"

"Why do you care?" Topher wasn't liking her tone of voice, it was a good thing they were the only ones in the treehouse.

"I'm your friend, I'm worried for you!"

"It's not like he's hurting me!"

"He's so mean to you! How am I supposed to know he's not?!"

"Jasmine," Topher sighed, "he's not hurting me. And he's not mean to me either."

"I just want to know why you keep going back to talk to him! Is that even where you've been?"

Topher groaned, there was no way he was getting out of this without telling the truth. "He _likes _me Jasmine." He paused. "He _kissed _me."

It was dark, but Jasmine's eyes had obviously grown larger, and her mouth was hanging open.

"_Oh_."


End file.
